These types of guides are used for cross cutting boards with your circular saw and have been around for a long time, you can even buy one if you want too. Here’s how I made mine.

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Sat, 12 Jul 2014 02:35:57 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/41747DavidHDavidHWalnut Hall Tree #3: Frame and Panel Backhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/41475
In this episode I take you step by step through the building of the frame and panel back. We cover setting up the rail and stile router bits, sizing the panels, and cleaning it all up.

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Sun, 25 May 2014 01:32:29 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/41232DavidHDavidHWalnut Hall Tree #1: The Basehttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/41100
In this episode I give a tour of the base, talk about its construction and give some details on the router bits used.

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Wed, 14 May 2014 01:03:25 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/41100DavidHDavidHFrame and Panel Wainscoting #3: Its Finished - Free to return to the shop!http://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/23705
The final wall of the formals along with the study are complete! Now, its time to get back to the shop and start working on this project list! Woo Hoo!!

Those of you who follow the blog on twitter know that I have taken a couple of weekends off from the slant front desk to complete work on a home improvement project that has been on my to-do list for most of the year. At the beginning of this year I laid hardwood floors throughout the house and have been steadily (but slowly) working on the trim work.

In our formal living & dinning my wife and I decided to put up frame and panel wainscoting. Wainscoting in its traditional definition is actually a tongue and groove paneling or “beadboard” look but the term gets used now for just about any type of wood paneling that covers the lower third up through two thirds of a wall (in some cases).

I still have one more weekend of work to complete my project but I wanted to use this weeks post to provide a few resources that I used during my research and design phase. I know a lot of hobbyist woodworkers get started by performing home improvement projects like this very one around the house; it is certainly how I got started!

The first resource I used was episode 613 of the New Yankee Workshop 'Wall Paneling'. Norm’s no nonsense approach is great. He goes through a number of different configurations from beadboard, to raised panel, to full wall paneling.

The next resource I used was an article out of Fine Homebuilding (August/September 2004 issue) A Simple Approach to Raised-Panel Wainscot, by Gary Striegler Gary also has a no-nonsense approach, using a pocket screwed frame that is then attached to the wall, panels that are milled smaller than the frames and attached separately, next a mitered border covers the gap between the panel and frame. Norm uses a very similar approach is his video, and this is the approach I ultimately took, although I used flat rather than raised panels.

The final resource I took advantage of was Google Image’s. Searching for images of what others have done or what professional shops are offering gave me a lot of ideas. I recommend you always take a look through Google images for any woodworking project you are considering you might find an idea you had not considered before!

share yours…If you have installed wall paneling or know of an internet resource describing how to install wall paneling leave a comment pointing to it for everyone else.

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Sat, 04 Dec 2010 02:23:21 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19723DavidHDavidHSlant Front Secretary #3: Base panels glued and processedhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19487
Well, did I get the panels glued up and ready during the week? Ha! of-course not…. Continue Reading...]]>
Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:54:29 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19487DavidHDavidHSlant Front Secretary #2: Starting the basehttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19333
The wood has had time to acclimate well to the shop by now (sure that’s my excuse for not starting yet…) Continue Reading...]]>
Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:32:13 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19333DavidHDavidHSlant Front Secretary #1: Kickoffhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19263
I have been a subscriber of Charles Neil’s woodworking show (Mastering Woodworking with Charles Neil) since its inception in October of 2009. To this point I really have not had time to follow along with a build; I’ve put one or two on my bucket list to come back to at some point in time. However, this time I just can’t help myself. A project that has been number one on my bucket list for sometime is a slant front secretary. It just so happens that the next project will be just that… Continue Reading...]]>
Fri, 12 Nov 2010 06:06:40 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19263DavidHDavidHHow I Do It: Dust Collectionhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19171
This is the first in a series of on going posts that will describe how I accomplish a given woodworking technique, task or problem. With every woodworking task there are tens of dozens of ways to approach them. This is just my way…

I picked up a 2 HP dust collector on sale from Harbor Freight early this year. I can’t say anything bad about it as this point, it went together as instructed and has worked flawlessly every time I turn it on. I had a dedicated 110v/20amp circuit installed for it and hooked it up through a Rockler remote controlled switch. The configuration is very straight forward: Continue Reading...

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Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:53:43 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19171DavidHDavidHA home for my lumberhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19094
Recently I cleared up a good bit of space in my shop along one wall when I move all of my Lawn equipment into a new storage shed (The garage is now official called the workshop)

The intention for the new found space was a centralized place to organize my lumber rather than having it scattered through out the shop where I trip over it or am constantly having to move it. I decided on a two part solution. One, a horizontal rack built out of 4×4 timbers and 3/4” pipe. The second, a cart just under 4 feet long and 2 feet deep to keep boards that measure less than 4 feet in.

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Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:03:14 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/19094DavidHDavidHThe garage is now official called the workshop.http://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/18005
Living in South Texas we don’t have basements; my wife and I are fortunate to own our own house, and I am fortunate enough that our garage is dedicated to being a workshop, although this didn’t come about until recently.Up until now the garage was just that it held everything that wasn’t really fit to be inside the house along with all of my woodworking tools etc. However, I’ve moved all of those non-woodworking (at least a majority) of them to a shed in our back yard, and the garage has official been renamed the workshop!

Building a small shed in your backyard is a perfect way to get all of those things that aren’t woodworking related out of the way. You have a bunch of different options, buy a wooden kit, buy a metal kit, build one from scratch yourself.

If you are looking to buy you also have an endless number of choices, shop around and remember the big sale weekends.

If you are looking to build your own you can certainly use your favorite search engine and look around a bit, there are numerous free planes and articles, one such article by The Family Handyman.I ended up purchasing a 5×6 low profile metal shed. The installation was straight forward:

1. Start by leveling off the area you plan to place the shed, I removed the sod and then leveled it with rock.2. build a floor out of pressure treated 2×4’s and pressure treated plywood.3. for the metal shed it was a matter of snapping together the panels and screwing the different sections together per the manufactures instructions.4. a little shelving will go a long way to giving you additional space rather than just stacking everything on the floor. I still have a little work to do inside of mine but it holds (for now) everything that I need it to.

It took me about a half a day to level with rock and build the floor and then just short of a full day to assembly ,weatherize and shelve the shed.

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Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:03:06 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/18005DavidHDavidHMom's "Box" #1: Planning and foward thinkinghttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/8516
This past Christmas my mom was showing off her pin collection, and she keeps them all in these small jewelry boxes, and the thought hit me that it would be nice to build here box that she could hold all if not most of these pins in. Well as I thought and thought about it and this ‘box’ quickly turned into a small cabinet.

My idea is for a standard looking upright jewelry cabinet and when you open it there are drawers in the main case and also smaller drawers in the doors themselves, this idea pulls on GaryK’s 1 box of drawers project:

except my doors will not be as deep as the main case, and will be taller then it is wide.

The inner cabinet will be 20” high plus the thickness of the top and bottom, 13” wide and 9” deep.

When you open the cabinet up all of the drawers will line up with each other from the main case to the door cases.

wood choices: I’m thinking about using mahogany for the main case maple for all of the drawer internals and spalted maple for the drawer fronts, I hope to re-saw the spalted maple and book match it and then make sure the length of all the drawer fronts (left door, main case, right door) all come from the same piece so that when the doors are open the grain matches up all the way across.

Next weekend I plan to put together a prototype of the main case, doors, and a few of the drawers out of mdf, I’ll let you guys know how it ends up.

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Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:53:00 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/8516DavidHDavidHMy life in wood #1: Year 1http://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/7868
Well, my one year anniversary with lumberjocks went by a few weeks ago and I realized that one year or so ago was also the first time I decided to get into woodworking. I thought this would be a good time to start a blog that I can update once a year, and even if no one else reads it, it will be something I can sit down and look at each year to see just how much I have grown as a woodworker.

This year has really flown by, My woodworking this year has been dedicated to two main items1) Learning!2) growing my shop space.

I have learned A LOT over the past year, and I have A LOT more to learn! I have sat up at night reading until i could read no more, surfing until I have run out of sites to surf, waiting and anticipating my favorite blogs, videos , and podcasts; and of course browsing LumberJocks!

I’ve spent quite a few hours in the shop with scrap pieces of wood, learning different techniques for cutting them, and learning to take my time and pay attention to details; I have some growing to do in the area of patience, and I’m sure that if wood working does not teach me this when I have kids it will be forced upon me :)

The shop has really grown; I’ve updated my shop profile with new pictures, and you can see a before and after slide show here:

Well that about wraps it up for this years entry, thanks to all of the friends I have made here so far for encouragement, advise, and the lumberjocks addiction!

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Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:04:10 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/7868DavidHDavidHValances #2: Finishing Uphttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/7806
Well, I finally got around to finishing up one of these. There wasn’t a whole lot left to do from where I left off last time.

I planed the top down to just over 1/2” thick and cut it down to size and finished up the assembly:

I still need to build one more of these, once I get that one finished and both are hung I’ll post the finished project.

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Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:39:07 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/7806DavidHDavidHValances #1: Getting startedhttp://lumberjocks.com/DavidHarms/blog/7590
In the front area of our house (the formal living and dinning combined) there are two windows that we decided need valances above them before we purchase window treatments for them.

I found a picture similar to what we were looking for:

The couple that I am going to build will be painted white. Normally i would start with rough lumber and process it, but because this is a painted project i went to my local box store to pick up some yellow pine as well as some molding.

It took me a while but I finally found 3 mostly straight boards in the pile, I didn’t find a crown cove modeling that i liked but i did find a piece of crown that should do the job.

First step was a quick check to make sure my table saw was setup correctly to cut down the front and side pieces, I just picked up an 8” wixey digital protractor on sale at rocker and I am loving it!

After getting these cut to size I set the saw blade to 45 deg bevel (outside bevel of 135 deg):

pieces cut to proper length and mitered:

Next was the glue up; I’m sure several of you have seen this tip before but for those who haven’t here it is; lay the pieces to glue up (inside face down) an but the mites together, then put tap on the seem, next flip the piece over and glue it as normal and bring the pieces together, the tap will act as as clamp to hold the front edge closed.

Next, I moved on to cutting the moldings for the bottom:

Thats all the time I had today, so I’ll have to finish this up next weekend.

Problems I ran into:Even though I made sure the blade was set to 45 deg (picture above) my corners still did not come out clean, in order to get the corner joint to be 90 deg the front of the miter had a gap, luckily this is a painted project and I filled it in, but if any one has any tips they can offer me on how to get these perfect I would love to know.

The miters on the bottom modeling that I cut by putting the blade at 90 deg and using the miter gage at 45 deg came out perfect though.